The Mystery of Natalie Wood

Yes, it is a biography and it is also extremely lengthy, a good combination for disaster movie, but not this movie. It is so good and more educational than I ever thought.

Tell the truth I don't know who she was before watching this movie. I watch it because I have nothing to do. And it really hooked me from the start. It is far more interesting than I could imagine.

I think, a bit this and that that actually make this movie so enjoyable to watch and very insightful about the rising of this Hollywood legend. The casting is without doubt really good especially Waddell which look really a-like to Natalie.

The real footage adds a little life to the story and makes it more convincing. And the story tells me what I need to know about Natalie's life. Though in the end the story about her and her family was a bit too brief.

Recommendation: Anyway, I really enjoy watching this movie and so I highly recommend everyone especially the one who doesn't her to watch this movie. This movie makes you want to watch her works.

Rating: 7.5/10 (Grade: B+)

...then I'll have to take this movie's word for it. "The Mystery of Natalie Wood" did actually do a pretty good job showing her life and death. Justine Waddell, as Natalie Wood, does look almost exactly like her. As for some aspects, I never knew that her mother Maria (Alice Krige) pushed her so hard to be famous (or pushed her at all), or that Ms. Wood got raped when she was young. As for the death scene...well, I guess that Natalie Wood's death will remain a mystery, and they had to choose something to portray. Probably taking a cue from "Reds", director Peter Bogdanovich interviews some people who knew her (most notably "West Side Story" co-star George Chakiris). A well-done biography, if nothing else.

I loved watching this on cable. I'm astounded by Justine Waddell's performance. Not only is she a Brit coping with a flawless American accent but she brings such warmth and charisma to the late, great star. There are times when you're watching the movie when you don't know if its her or the late Natalie Wood on screen. In particular there is a scene in West Side Story that's eerie. And a moving scene when she calls her mother that seems to come straight from Inside Daisy Clover. The script certainly isn't the best and the direction is hackneyed. Great actors like Alice Krige come off as ghoulish stereotypes. But watch it for Justine, her beauty, her talent and her ability to deal delicately with dark subject matter are totally apparent.

There are several really good things about this TV biopic and a few not-so-good things. On the plus side, director Bogdanovich has given the standard approach a bit of a spin with snippets of interviews from actual people who knew the subject and inserts of photos and clips of the actual star to help move the story along. Also, Waddell (as Natalie Wood) gives a very strong performance in a challenging role. Almost (but not quite) matching her is Weatherly as the love of her life Robert Wagner. Both of these actors have obviously spent a great deal of time studying their subjects and perfecting their body language, mannerisms and voices (particularly Weatherly.) The film also has a generous running time to help keep the story from being rushed and hacked to death in order to squeeze it in to the usual two-hour TV-movie slot. On the negative side, Wood's mother has been presented like something out of a Hans Christian Anderson horror story. Her portrayal is so unrelentingly domineering and menacing that it borders on cartoonish and ridiculous....not balanced much at all. Also, the hair and make-up people have sorely let down Waddell's accomplished performance. Years go by and Waddell has the exact same length of hair and basic style, yet Wood was a chameleon with her hair and the pictures that are continuously flashed on the screen confirm this. Also, Wood ALWAYS, even swimming, had thick black eyeliner on her lower lids. Waddell is never made up this way. The eyes are all wrong throughout the movie. So this detracts somewhat from what could have been a downright eerie resemblance because she manages it several times anyway. More than once, it's hard to believe that it isn't Natalie Wood (and Robert Wagner) on the screen. Several other star impersonations crop up. Some are really pretty good (Marilyn Monroe, Warren Beatty, Sal Mineo, James Dean), others are completely, utterly WRONG (Joan Collins - Attention hair and make-up! - Her engagement picture to Warren Beatty is right in the middle of her autobiography. Look it up!) Enough decent moments occur in the film to warrant seeing it and there's a right-on portrayal of Wood's younger sister Lana (the actress bears a strong resemblance to the real lady.) After all is said and done, though, the audience has only learned a little of what made Wood tick and there's only fabrication about how she died.

At the start, we see what happened when Natalie Wood drowned, including footage of CBS anchors Charles Osgood and Dan Rather (ironic considering ABC aired this movie). Then comes the first of many comments by real people (a nice touch), followed by a flashback to when Natalie's mother was told by a fortune teller that Natalie would drown. From that point, Natalie's mother was overprotective, though she cared more about her daughter having an acting career than she did about what that career might do to the little girl, and her treatment of Natalie bordered on cruel.

At age 5, little Natasha (as she was known then) was very persistent with a movie director who thought acting was a terrible career for a child. Still, Natalie (as she was soon called) turned out to be quite talented and charming, and she soon became a big star.

As a teenager, Natalie began to wonder what it would be like to be 'normal'. She went through ups and downs not only in her career but in her relationships. She met many people whose names viewers might recognize. And some of those people met with tragedy. Natalie had many reasons to be sad, and over time drugs became a big part of her life. Would she ever find happiness? Would she give up her career and become a mother, as she longed to do?

I thought Justine Waddell did a wonderful job. She especially shined in one scene where Natalie had to convince a director to let her take an adult role, even though she was best known as a child star. Another scene where a terrible event occurred showed Natalie absolutely paralyzed. I also thought Waddell did quite well in a scene where Natalie talked with two girls in a restaurant just as if they were her own.

The little girl who played Natalie at 5 was also quite good. I thought it was a letdown when Natalie became a teenager played by Elizabeth Rice.

Alice Krige made quite an evil mother, though she could come across as tender and almost make one want to forgive her for everything. Sophie Monk captured Marilyn Monroe quite well, at least to me. She seemed cartoonish, but then that's my impression of Monroe.

It was hard to watch all the terrible things that Natalie Wood went through, but she was such a charming person who could give others the appearance of being happy even when she was really miserable. It was a worthwhile effort, and real footage and interviews with real people helped a lot.